GCSE Latin Aeneid - Virgil's stylistic techniques

balance

two or more phrases placed in the same order, e.g. noun+verb, noun+verb, the opposite of chiasmus

chiasmus

inversion in the second of two parallel phrases of the order used in the first, e.g. noun+verb, verb+noun; ABBA, the opposite of balance

doctrina

a high-brow reference, when the author shows off his learning by abstruse references to peoples or things

enclosing word order

when two words which agree with each other, e.g. a noun and an adjective, are put at the beginning and the end of a longer sentence/phrase, thus enclosing all the other words. often consists of four words arranged chiasticly or balanced

epanalepsis

the repetition of the same word/phrase in the following clause

homoioteleuton

the repetition of the same ending in successive or nearby words

internal rhyme

where the last syllable of a word before the caesura rhymes with the last syllable of the line

polyptoton

the repetition of a word with the same root, but in a different case or different part of speech

synecdoche

the use of part of something to stand for the whole thing, e.g. using wheels to refer to a car

variatio

variation in the way two or more parallel ideas are expressed, or in the use of synonyms

spondee

a metrical foot consisting of two long syllables

dactyl

a metrical foot comprising one long and two short syllables

anastrophe

the inversion of the usual order of words/clauses

ictus

the beat of the line which always falls on the first syllable of a foot, this can coincide or conflict with the word accent